Food and drink

Sturdy, fun-sipping barbecue reds

There’s no need to rush summer. It’s not even
the middle of August, so just ignore those back-to-school sales. To help stave
off the inevitable I suggest a good old-fashioned barbecue, complete with a
killer selection of “barbecue” wine.

I have a good friend who describes the
barbecue process as “men in the backyard burning beef,” and while I think she
is closer to the truth than she knows, there is no need to leave the ’cueing to
any one sex. After all, men are not born with any particular barbecue skills so
we shouldn’t expect them to turn into Rob Feenie the minute the barbecue is
fired up.

Now, what to cook…

While T-bone steaks would be great, chicken,
hamburgers or smokies will do just fine. Simply add some fresh corn on the cob
and sliced heritage tomatoes, grill some vegetables and,
voilà
,
you have yourself a barbecue that
screams summer. All you need now are the wines.

Although wineries seldom characterize their
wines as “barbecue reds”, lest we think of them as not serious, the fact is
everybody is looking for the great barbecue red, (translation: an inexpensive,
sturdy, fun-sipping wine) that will stand up to the smoke and charred food.

Today we look at some classic barbecue
candidates, all recently tasted, that should be widely available in government
and/or local private wine stores.

California zinfandel was the classic barbecue
wine before the arrival of Aussie shiraz, and while the sweet-sipping white zinfandel
has grabbed a lot the limelight, it’s the old-fashioned, dry-farmed, old vines,
RED, zinfandel that is the classic, ’cue wine.